Civil Society Participation in International Security Organizations: The Cases of NATO and the OSCE

Abstract

The field of international security involves the highest stakes and is almost coterminous with ‘high politics’. Here, we expect states to call the shots, international institutions to enjoy very little autonomy and non-state actors to play hardly any role at all (Rittberger et al. 1999: 120). The reasons are evident: where the physical survival of states and societies is at stake and errors may be fatal, mistrust among governments is widespread and asymmetries of information are regarded as vital resources that are anxiously protected (Lipson 1984). Although states sometimes disclose facts relevant to their security to other states, including adversaries, in order to manage alliance and other security dilemmas (Downs et al. 1986; Jervis 1978; Snyder 1984), they face strong incentives to maintain tight control over the flow of information and also to uphold a high level of secrecy vis-à-vis third parties, who might intentionally or unintentionally weaken their strategic position by spreading sensitive information. As a consequence, international security is a ‘least-likely case’ for the hypothesis that international organizations increasingly open up to non-governmental organizations (NGOs)² providing them with opportunities for meaningful participation in policy-making. States and the international institutions they use as instruments for promoting their security interests cannot afford to share information — let alone power — with organizations that are typically unconstrained by considerations of national, or alliance, interest due to their transnational character and their idealist agenda, giving pride of place to the promotion of human rights and other cosmopolitan values.

I wish to thank Monika Tocha, Nino Jordan and, most of all, Tim Flink for excellent research assistance, Sebastian Mayer for important insights and helpful comments, and the editors of this volume for their patience and encouragement.